Isaiah 17

New International Version

A Prophecy Against Damascus

17 A prophecy^(A) against Damascus:^(B)

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
    but will become a heap of ruins.^(C)
²The cities of Aroer^(D) will be deserted
    and left to flocks,^(E) which will lie down,^(F)
    with no one to make them afraid.^(G)
³The fortified^(H) city will disappear from Ephraim,
    and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
    like the glory^(I) of the Israelites,”^(J)
declares the Lord Almighty.

⁴“In that day^(K) the glory^(L) of Jacob will fade;
    the fat of his body will waste^(M) away.
⁵It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
    gathering^(N) the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain^(O)
    in the Valley of Rephaim.^(P)
⁶Yet some gleanings will remain,^(Q)
    as when an olive tree is beaten,^(R)
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
    four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷In that day^(S) people will look^(T) to their Maker^(U)
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One^(V) of Israel.
⁸They will not look to the altars,^(W)
    the work of their hands,^(X)
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles^[a]^(Y)
    and the incense altars their fingers^(Z) have made.

⁹In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth.^(AA) And all will be desolation.

¹⁰You have forgotten^(AB) God your Savior;^(AC)
    you have not remembered the Rock,^(AD) your fortress.^(AE)
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
    and plant imported vines,^(AF)
¹¹though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
    and on the morning^(AG) when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest^(AH) will be as nothing^(AI)
    in the day of disease and incurable^(AJ) pain.^(AK)

¹²Woe to the many nations that rage^(AL)—
    they rage like the raging sea!^(AM)
Woe to the peoples who roar^(AN)—
    they roar like the roaring of great waters!^(AO)
¹³Although the peoples roar^(AP) like the roar of surging waters,
    when he rebukes^(AQ) them they flee^(AR) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff^(AS) on the hills,
    like tumbleweed before a gale.^(AT)
¹⁴In the evening, sudden^(AU) terror!^(AV)
    Before the morning, they are gone!^(AW)
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.

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Footnotes

Isaiah 17:8 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah

2 Chronicles 28:16-21

New International Version

¹⁶At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings^[a] of Assyria^(A) for help. ¹⁷The Edomites^(B) had again come and attacked Judah and carried away prisoners,^(C) ¹⁸while the Philistines^(D) had raided towns in the foothills and in the Negev of Judah. They captured and occupied Beth Shemesh, Aijalon^(E) and Gederoth,^(F) as well as Soko,^(G) Timnah^(H) and Gimzo, with their surrounding villages. ¹⁹The Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel,^[b] for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful^(I) to the Lord. ²⁰Tiglath-Pileser^[c]^(J) king of Assyria^(K) came to him, but he gave him trouble^(L) instead of help.^(M) ²¹Ahaz^(N) took some of the things from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace and from the officials and presented them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help him.^(O)

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Footnotes

2 Chronicles 28:16 Most Hebrew manuscripts; one Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint and Vulgate (see also 2 Kings 16:7) king
2 Chronicles 28:19 That is, Judah, as frequently in 2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles 28:20 Hebrew Tilgath-Pilneser, a variant of Tiglath-Pileser

2 Kings 16:10-20

New International Version

¹⁰Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah^(A) the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. ¹¹So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. ¹²When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings^[a]^(B) on it. ¹³He offered up his burnt offering^(C) and grain offering,^(D) poured out his drink offering,^(E) and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings^(F) against the altar. ¹⁴As for the bronze altar^(G) that stood before the Lord, he brought it from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar.

¹⁵King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer the morning^(H) burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.”^(I) ¹⁶And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered.

¹⁷King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base.^(J) ¹⁸He took away the Sabbath canopy^[b] that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria.^(K)

¹⁹As for the other events of the reign of Ahaz, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ²⁰Ahaz rested^(L) with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.

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Footnotes

2 Kings 16:12 Or and went up
2 Kings 16:18 Or the dais of his throne (see Septuagint)

2 Chronicles 28:22-27

New International Version

²²In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful^(A) to the Lord. ²³He offered sacrifices to the gods^(B) of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”^(C) But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.^(D)

²⁴Ahaz gathered together the furnishings^(E) from the temple of God^(F) and cut them in pieces. He shut the doors^(G) of the Lord’s temple and set up altars^(H) at every street corner in Jerusalem. ²⁵In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

²⁶The other events of his reign and all his ways, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷Ahaz rested^(I) with his ancestors and was buried^(J) in the city of Jerusalem, but he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.

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2 Kings 15:30-31

New International Version

³⁰Then Hoshea^(A) son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He attacked and assassinated^(B) him, and then succeeded him as king in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah.

³¹As for the other events of Pekah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals^(C) of the kings of Israel?

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